Allentown Hospital Has 100% Average Occupancy This Week

November 22, 1985|The Morning Call

At a time when most American hospitals are having lower annual occupancies than in previous years, Allentown Hospital reported a 100 percent average occupancy Wednesday, according to a hospital spokeswoman.

Christine Messina Boyer, director of public relations, said it was the first time in the past five years that the hospital had achieved such a high average occupancy. She added that hospital President Darryl Lippman said he could not remember such a phenomenon in his career.

The report did not mean that the hospital was closed to admissions. The breakdown of patient care floors showed 117 percent in intensive care units, 100 percent in psychiatry, 98 percent in obstetrics and 96 percent in both pediatrics and medical/surgical units.

It was the first time, however, that the hospital referred a high-risk expectant mother to Philadelphia to deliver because the neonatal unit was full, Boyer said.

James Brush, deputy director for Health Systems Council of Eastern Pennsylvania (HSC), which monitors occupancies in a five-county region, noted, "For years all hospitals ran occupancies of 90 percent or thereabouts. More recently, very few are running at 80 percent. Lehigh Valley Hospital Center and Allentown Hospital are the exception to the rule and on occasion others are filled, but more often than not these hospitals have beds available."

Brush said at the end of fiscal year 1985 (June 30, 1985), "There were more than sufficient beds available in the city or community of Lehigh County to serve future needs of patients requiring service."

He said Lehigh Valley Hospital Center's occupancy in fiscal '85 was 83 percent; Allentown's was 78 percent. Both had increases in admissions over the previous year.